Transgenders Now Recognised As Independent Category For PAN Application

The Income Tax department, on April 10, had amended the income tax rules to henceforth allow transgenders be recognised as an independent category of applicants for obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for their tax-related transactions.

NEW DELHI: No supporting document for gender is required either in fresh application or to change an existing card, the Income Tax Department said today.

The department, on April 10, had amended the income tax rules to henceforth allow transgenders be recognised as an independent category of applicants for obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for their tax-related transactions.

Till now, only male and female gender categories were available to be chosen on the PAN application form. The CBDT had effected the change in view of representations received by it in this context, as transgenders were facing problems in getting a new PAN or transacting using their old PANs.

“New PAN allotment and change request applications with gender as transgender is allowed without hassle. Also, there is no requirement of depositing any supporting document for change of gender to transgender vide PAN change request application made either through the portal of NSDL or UTIITSL,” the department today said in an advisory.

PAN is a 10-digit unique alphanumeric number allotted by the Income Tax department to individuals and entities. The National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and UTI Infrastructure Technology And Services Limited (UTIITSL) are entrusted with the task of preparing PANs on behalf of the ITD.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in the notification issued in April, under sections 139A and 295 of the Income Tax Act had specified the new application process for obtaining a PAN number by an individual.

“Individuals from the transgender community were facing hassles in obtaining a PAN card and this problem was further magnified as Aadhaar had the third gender category but not PAN. Hence, the transgenders were not able to link their PAN with their Aadhaar due to this anomaly,” a senior official had told PTI.

The amendments will now be reflected in Form 49A (PAN application form for Indian citizens) and 49AA (PAN application form for individuals not a citizen of India).

The government has now made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns (ITRs) as well as obtaining a new PAN.

Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

According to the data updated till March 5, over 16.65 crore PANs, out of the total about 33 crore, have been linked with Aadhaar. The deadline to link these two has been extended recently till June 30 by the CBDT.